St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1887-03-26
THE BOY MURDERER.
Confession OF THE KANSAS Boy
VINO WILL Hang rOa THE MUIR
DER OF HIS FATHER. MorH-
xR, SISTER AND BROTHER.

butcheries, OF human beings know
to the annals of crime was commit
ted hear thu town Of Erie, Kansas
j. W. Sell. a weIl-to-do farmer
and his whole family, excepting
one son. Willie. a boy sixteen year,
old, were found murdered, their
heads being crushed and tl,eil
thrOats being cut from ear to ear
On u chair in the room were found
q hatchet aud butcher knife be.
longing to tho family. with which
the bloody work had been done,
and the boy Willie was found to be
covered with blood from head 10
foot. He was accordingly arrested
charged with the crime, and at the
jury term Of the District Court IN
1856 was tried. convicted Of muir
der in the first degree and sentenced
to be hung. and is now in the Peni-
tertiary. awaiting the signature Of
the Governor to the death warrant.
There has always been a great
diversity Of opinion among the PEG.
pie "a TO whether Willie Sell COM
mitted the murder. On the trial
there was no positive evidence and
the State utterly failed to find .ny
motive for the crime. On the con-
trary. it was proved that Willie was
an exceptionally good boy, aud that
he and his sister Ina were more
than commonly fond Of each ether.
The neighbors all swore 10 :he
boys good disposition and that hs
was a favOrite In the community,
while his brother Waty, who WINS
older than he. was not SO gene, ally
liked. The matter now however
seems 10 be set 1t rest. for u state
raent is printed in dispatches from
Erie that the boy. after Systematic
urging and pressing on The part Of
Hon. }. IL. Woods. his guardian,
and his attorneys, made a confess
sion, which fits SO exactly to sill the
facts and circumstances brought
ont ut the trial that it settles the
ease definitely. The confession is
in substance as follows:
"Mother and sister Ina had gone
to Led; father. Waly aud were
still up. when the calves got out and
came up around the house. Waty
sat ut the table reading, nn.l father
bad just taken his coat md pants
off to 20 to bed, and told Wnty to
go and put the calves ~. He said,
Let Willie do it; l won't 60 out
now. Father said that he should
go and Waty did not want to, aud
while they were talking l went OFT
and got til. hatfhet, which was
in log Of wood outside
the door. and came back to see if
Wn.y would go out will, Inc. I got
the latcl'e, Ia nail up the calf pen.
Father aud Waty were then quarrel.
ing and had become very mad.
When l came where they were with
the hatclct Waty snatcl,ed it out
Of my hand Ind struck father sew
eral times. ut last knocking him
down. When l saw what Wn.y
had done ! caught hold of the
and striking ut Waty, hit
him on tue head aud he fell down
IN the floor, aud I suppose that
killed him. Then mother, seeing
what was icing done, jumped out
Ut the bed screaming. aud before l
thought what l WAS doing l struck
her. Ina. my sister. Mt that time
raise1 up N bed aud screamed, and
| don't know why l did il, bat l
struck her with the hntchet and she
fell back. They were NIL lying qniet.
took off all my clothes except my
shirt and drawers. then pulled off
Wntys pants. raised biia up and
him into the other room
and put him into orr bed. After
that got the haichet and pounded
bis head all to pieces. l felt mad
Mt Waty because he bad killed
father. l went to the cupboard
and got the butclicr.kniie and Gu.
Waty's head nearly of. Then l
went back into the other room, and
sat down, and l did not know what
10 do. Then I Thought that if any
Of them should come to life they
would say killed Waty; 80 I took
lie butcher-knifs and cut their
to make sure of it. l then
blew ont the lamp and sat down for
several hours. but ut last could not
stand it any longer and again lit
he lamp. and putting on my
ran over to Mr.. Meudall's
md told him that some one was Mt
our house with hatchet and had
aurt pa and ma"